


"I Don't Care."

by Beautiful_lies_x



Series: Of Footie and Friends [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Basically just me avoiding responsibilities, Fluff, M/M, Merthur - Freeform, Modern AU, Protective!Arthur, caring!arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 14:19:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1902213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beautiful_lies_x/pseuds/Beautiful_lies_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Pendragon attends a private school in the city, two hours away from his home. He's more than happy to sit silently on the bus, listening to his music, until some idiot stumbles on and sits next to him. And just keeps on coming back, again and again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I Don't Care."

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! If you're a follower of mine and you're waiting for my update for Falling... Uh, sorry? My iPad's been broken, Abbeynessful and I haven't been writing and.. Aww, screw it. I haven't updated, and I'm not going to lie and try to make excuses. We have not abandoned it, I promise! We're halfway through a chapter and it will be updated until the end. I swear! 
> 
> If you've never read any of my previous works, um, hey? Please enjoy my absolute shameless fluff. I've been in this fandom for forever, but I've never written anything for it, so.. go easy, yeah? Awesome.
> 
> I'm from Australia, by the way, and this is set somewhere in England so... Sorry for any mistakes? 
> 
> Bad title, yep, I know, I'm sorry.

The bag was heavy across Arthur's back, filled with both books he hadn't read and homework he probably wasn't going to do until the night before it was due. He shifted awkwardly as he fell onto the metal chair, possibly the least comfortable thing in existence, Arthur thought bitterly. The bus stop was constantly empty and always seemed either freezing cold or a ridiculously high temperature. Arthur pulled his school jumper's sleeves further down his arms, his hands slipping beneath the tattered material, edges frayed from lunchtimes of footie with the boys. His back muscles protested instantly as the action caused the bag's weight to shift again. He hit the play button on his iPhone and bopped his head in time to the music, "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift.

Morgana had downloaded it onto his phone as a joke, but he'd actually grown to kind of like it. Much to the amusement of Leon, who still hadn't stopped teasing him about the fact it was on his most played list, just beaten out by "Jesus of Suburbia". Which had given some of his credibility back, according to the boys. He was about three quarters of the way through his sixth song by the time the bus showed up, a gush of bitter air paired with a wall of water thrown almost right into Arthur's face as the bus skidded directly into a puddle. Arthur flinched backwards, narrowly avoiding falling backwards onto the stupid chair that he'd just stood up from. Arthur heaved an irritated sigh and clambered aboard the bus, touching on with his Oyster card. He eased along the aisle and fell into his usual seat, pressed right up against the window. He pushed his face against the cool glass, feeling his irritation seep away along with any remaining body heat he had. A song was still pumping loud in his ears, but he was in no mood to recognise, much less listen to, it. However, it quickly changed over to something soothing, soft just as the bus glided, much more elegantly than it did at his stop, to a halt. Arthur did not turn around to see where they had stopped, although they had never pulled over here before it didn't interest him. That was, until someone tapped him on the shoulder a couple of minutes later. Arthur, startled, removed one headphone, turning to the stranger. He was overly lanky, with shaggy dark hair, bright blue eyes and annoyingly distracting cheekbones.

"Can I help you?" Arthur asked, raising one eyebrow.

The stranger looked around awkwardly, shifting foot to foot, before giving Arthur a half smile, "Yeah, uhm, can you move your bag? I'd kinda like to sit down." he motioned to Arthur's heavy bag, settling in the seat next to him.

Arthur glared from the stranger to the traitorous heavy bag and back again. "Sure." he said, his voice full of contempt. He shifted the bag onto his lap, groaning slightly with the heaviness of it, seriously, were his teachers trying to kill him?

The stranger gave him a grateful look before slumping in the seat, putting an earphone in one over sized, in Arthur's opinion, ear. "I'm Merlin." he said, turning to Arthur.

"I don't care." the blonde replied.

Merlin look stung, and it pained Arthur slightly, he didn't mean to be so rude, but he certainly wasn't going to take it back now.

"Royal prat, aren't you?" Merlin muttered to himself, playing with the zip on the bag sitting on the ground below him.

"Excuse me?" Arthur exclaimed, making both Merlin and half of the bus stare at him. Arthur lowered his voice but continued with the same indignation. "I could have not given you this seat." Merlin scoffed,

"You don't own the bloody seat, mate."

"I am not your 'mate'." Arthur replied, narrowing his eyes.

"My mistake." Merlin bit back, sarcastically.

"Yeah, well.." Arthur murmured, returning to the window.

Merlin and him didn't share another word for the entire bus trip.

 

 

If Arthur thought he would never see Merlin again, he was sorely mistaken.

Merlin hopped on the bus the next day, picked up Arthur's still heavy bag, he hadn't done any of the homework the teachers had set him yet, and plopped it right into it's owner's lap. "Oi!" Arthur gasped.

Merlin shrugged, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. "Didn't see you there, _mate_." he stressed the last word.

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur complained. 

Merlin gave him a slightly curious look. "Oh, so my name was important after all?"

An awkward silence met his words and Arthur felt compelled to spit out, "My name is Arthur."

Merlin grinned, "I don't care." he said, giving him a side smile. 

 

They fell into a tentative friendship after that, teasing each other constantly, and always replying with "I don't care." whenever possible. The best moment for Arthur was when Merlin had teased him about having recently texted a girl called Morgana only to be told that she was his half-sister. His pale skin was flushed with a dark rose for the rest of the bus trip. Arthur had begun to dread the half hour he had to wait out after Merlin got off the bus, and the fifteen minutes before he got on. Merlin was always a bundle of energy, always had this right little grin on his face, and a twinkle in his eye that Arthur _still_  didn't completely trust. Whenever Merlin got even slightly embarrassed, a blush would light up his cheeks and creep down his pale neck, and it would take ages for it to fade. Arthur took this fact to his complete advantage, and always, without fail, attempted to make him blush. He insisted it was because he found it hilarious, but Morgana disagreed. 

"You like this guy," she had said one day, pointing an accusatory finger to his chest. "I must meet him Arthur, see if he's good enough for you."

Arthur rolled his eyes, "You once told me that a pile of rubbish would be too good for me. Besides, I don't want you to scare him."

Morgana flipped her dark locks and battered her eyelashes at him, "I think it's because you know I'm too pretty and I'll take him away."

"I think you're too self-obsessed." Arthur snapped back, blushing.

"Come on, I'm not going to steal your crush, must we resort to lies?" Morgana teased. "How come Mr. Gorgeous was never on the bus when I was at school?"

"He just moved here." Arthur explained, "His mum, Hunith, got a new job and they had to move. He wanted to stay at his old school though, so he had to start catching the bus. He used to walk home everyday."

Morgana shot him an appraising look, "Man, you've got it  _bad_." 

"I do not!" Arthur shouted at her retreating figure. 

 

Meanwhile, no matter how hard he attempted to deny it, Arthur would wait everyday for Merlin's bubbly form to clamber aboard the bus everyday, bursting with energy. He was not prepared for the dark haired, shoulder-hunched boy that slouched on one day. He collapsed in the seat next to Arthur and gave him a tired smile, before slumping against his bag. 

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, carefully.

"Think I'm sick." Merlin's voice was muffled by the bag. "S'tired."

"You okay?" Arthur asked, worryingly. 

There was no response. Merlin had managed to fall asleep in the time it had taken Arthur to finish the sentence. The blonde rolled his eyes affectionately, putting both earphones in his ears for the first time with Merlin on the bus for _weeks_. The bus took a sharp turn around the corner, and Merlin was launched precariously to the side. Arthur gently shook him awake. "Merlin?" he asked. The aforementioned boy looked at him blearily, before frowning slightly.

" _Arthur._ " he whined, "Jus' wanna sleep."

"Okay, okay." Arthur agreed, he pushed Merlin's bag to the ground, ignoring Merlin's muffled disagreement against his shoulder, and  _when exactly did he get there?_ Not that Arthur was complaining or anything. He eased his own bag onto the ground, leaving his lap clear. He readjusted Merlin's head so it was resting on his lap. Merlin's body instantly shifted, his legs curling up on the seat, one of his hands reaching out to curl around Arthur's as it supported his head slightly. Arthur looked around quickly, to assess the situation but he found no judging eyes. Just a few doe-y eyed teenage girls and old woman giving them sweet looks. Arthur's hand, the one that wasn't currently holding Merlin's, tentatively tangled itself soothingly within surprisingly soft, dark hair. Arthur smiled softly, brushing back the locks from the sleeping boy's forehead. The music changed again, to something a lot more familiar, he couldn't help but start to sing along quietly, almost under his breath. 

" _Taking over this town, they should worry, but these problems aside I think I taught you well_." Arthur flushed badly when he realised what he'd done, Merlin could probably have heard him. He stopped suddenly, eyes wide as saucepans, blush heating up his cheeks. Merlin stared to squirm in  his arms and Arthur shot him a curious look. He paused to test it, took a deep breath and continued:  " _His crown lid up the way as we moved slowly. Past the wondering eyes of the ones that were left behind. Though far away, though far away, though far away, we're still the same, we're still the same."_ Merlin looked appeased, stilling in his arms once more, curling impossibly closer. Arthur gave they boy a soft look, his eyes probably going embarrassingly soft as he finished the song, whispering it only to the beauty in his arms. " _And as the world comes to an end, I'll be here to hold your hand. 'Cause you're my king and I'm your lion-heart."_

Merlin's fingers squeezed Arthur's tighter, "I love you, A'th'r." he mumbled into the folds of Arthur's slacks. A look of relief and pure unadulterated _love_ and affection flickered across Arthur's face. He squeezed Merlin's hand back, smiling blissfully.

"I don't care." he muttered, only to himself. The bus came to a shuddering halt and, startled, Arthur realised it was Merlin's stop. He quickly shook him awake, with no time for words, shoved his bag at him and paired it with an impossibly soft smile.

 

Merlin wasn't on the bus the next day, or the day after that, and by the time Tuesday rolled around, Arthur hadn't seen Merlin for  _six_ days. He was jittery every single time they rolled up to Merlin's stop, and rolled straight past. His footie game was off, everyone had noticed. They all sent him worried looks but he shook them off, informing them he was just overthinking something. Arthur had come to two conclusions by the time Thursday came. 

  1. Merlin was dead.
  2. Arthur had scared him off.



Neither conclusion sat well with him, and he found Merlin's stop almost impossible to look at. His bag had reclaimed its rightful position by Arthur's side, quite smugly if he did say so himself. Thursday, Arthur was met by a tap on the shoulder and a loud, "Oi, you royal prat, some stupid bag's taken my place."

The brightest smile that had graced Arthur face in more than a week, came across instantly. "I don't care." he replied, turning to face Merlin. 

He was bubbly, his skin was back to it's natural pale colour, and he was  _alive._ Arthur's bag thumped against the floor again, making place for Merlin. 

"So?" Arthur asked, bopping up and down excitedly as he looked at Merlin.

"Of Monsters and Men?" Merlin teased sliding into the seat. "Never would have picked you as an indie kind of guy."

Arthur gave him a side wards look, "Come on, a man is anything he wants to be when he thinks he's alone."

Merlin grinned and their banter began, almost as though it never stopped. Soon, all too soon, it came to Merlin's stop. 

"Well, this is me." he said awkwardly as though Arthur didn't know. 

Arthur hummed in agreement watching as Merlin stood up. He began to make his way to the door before Arthur muttered to himself, "Aw, fuck it."

He stood up quickly, pushing through the aisle and reaching Merlin. His hand clasped around the brunet's skinny wrist and spinning him so he was flush against Arthur's chest. the blonde dipped him in the middle of the busy bus and locked their lips together, softly, cautiously. Merlin's hand tugged on the nape of Arthur's neck drawing him closer. 

"You're going to miss your stop." Arthur reminded him gently.

"Don't you know by now, Arthur?  _I don't care._ " Merlin whispered against Arthur's lips. 

Merlin did miss his stop, and so did Arthur. They had to take the loop to the end of the line and all the way back. They were two hours late, but neither of them cared. They got to be with each other, and perfect the whole 'kissing' thing. Arthur insisted that they needed a lot of practice after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I DON'T OWN MERLIN NOR ANY OF THE SONGS IN THIS FIC. 
> 
> The song Arthur sings is King & Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men, and if you haven't heard it, go now.  
> Just, here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AiSrCPvpco&list=PLeezh8IjRSrW6UTr4nUp5rajbD7__tm_r&index=11
> 
> I MIGHT do a follow-up, consisting of Merlin meeting Morgana, and Arthur meeting Hunith.  
> Oh, and, of course, Merlin going to one of Arthur's fooite games. Meeting the boys and all.  
> Merlin telling his friends all about Arthur?  
> Ugh, so many possibilities. Please, comment if you'd like to see that ^_^


End file.
